The One With the Fire
by Bailey2
Summary: pretty self-explanatory


AN: I thought I'd try something a little different here. Not sure where exactly this came from, but I've got some ideas for continuing it, if anyone's interested. Please note, this takes place in late season six, right after TOW Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad and before the whole proposal thing. So Phoebe's living with C and M, and Rachel is living with Joey. Also, I've had the good fortune to never experience anything like this before, so I know nothing about it and I'm basically just making stuff up. Is it obvious?  
  
--  
  
Through the cottony suspension of sleep, a shrill beeping gradually began to register in her ears. She dreamed that she was in a room with a thousand alarm clocks, all jingling in a cacophony of noise that made her grumble and burrow deeper under the covers.  
  
"… Monica? Monica! Mon, wake up, honey, you gotta wake up now!"  
  
Chandler? What was Chandler doing there… god, he needed to make it stop. The noise…  
  
"Monica!" Someone was shaking her shoulder, hard, and she jolted awake, taking a deep breath and then beginning to cough. She stared wide-eyed at Chandler, who stood over her in his pajama pants and a t-shirt, hair mussed and eyes frantic. The smell of smoke permeated the air… and that ringing noise wasn't alarm clocks. It was the smoke alarm.  
  
"What's going on?" she gasped, sitting up straight and shoving her hair out of her eyes. They were already stinging.  
  
"Fire. Get up, I want you out of here." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up out of the bed, dragging her toward their bedroom door, which was ajar. The smoke was thicker as he kicked the door the rest of the way open, and Monica saw flames dancing high in the direction of the bathroom. The fire licked at the walls and ceiling, and she saw it was spreading rapidly.  
  
Chandler was already moving toward the kitchen, ducking his head and breathing through his t-shirt. "Wake up Phoebe!" he shouted back to her, muffled.  
  
"What are you doing?" Monica yelled back, jumping when Phoebe's door flew open and their temporary roommate stood blinking at the nightmarish tableau like she thought she might still be asleep.  
  
"Fire extinguisher," Chandler said, coughing as he moved through the smoke.  
  
"No! Chandler, we have to go!" Monica turned to Phoebe. "It's a fire, we need to get out of here!" Talk about stating the obvious.  
  
Phoebe swallowed hard and nodded, grabbing onto Monica's arm and beginning to pull her toward the apartment door. Monica stumbled forward, her mind jumping frantically –  
  
1 * Oh my god, the apartment, somebody go for help, call the fire department, Chandler –*  
  
"It's too late," Monica yelled, coughing as she inhaled the thick smoke, almost choking. Chandler had gotten the fire extinguisher off the wall and was fiddling with it, mere feet from the blaze. "Chandler, it's too late, let's go!"  
  
The shrieking of the smoke alarm gained volume when suddenly, somewhere in the building, the main fire alarm began to wail. As Phoebe reached for the doorknob, someone started banging on their door.  
  
"Chandler! Monica!"  
  
It was Joey. Phoebe flung the door open, and blessed clean air rushed in. Monica took a breath, feeling dizzy. "Chandler!" she shouted. He'd gotten the extinguisher to work and was blasting the fire with a steady stream of pressurized water, but the blaze was already out of control. Too soon, the extinguisher was empty. Shaking his head, he backed up and turned to look at her.  
  
"Shit," he said, breathing shallowly through his nose.  
  
"Never mind! The fire department is on its way, I hear the sirens!" Joey yelled from the doorway. "Get outta there!"  
  
Rachel stood frozen in the hallway behind them, pajamas wrinkled and hair mussed, eyes wide with panic. She wasn't too great in an emergency.  
  
"How can you hear ANYTHING over this noise?" Chandler shouted back, following Monica and Phoebe into the hallway just as Mr. Treeger, the building super, came puffing up the stairs. The hallway was already starting to fill with smoke, and people were coming out of their apartments, pale under the emergency lighting.  
  
"Fire, we're evacuating, single file down the stairs!" Treeger instructed everyone he could see. He began banging on doors, waking people up.  
  
As if they could sleep through this, Monica thought, as the level of noise seemed to reach a crescendo. Her head aching and eyes burning, she held onto Chandler's arm and leaned against him as Treeger instructed them to go downstairs. Rachel grabbed onto Chandler's shirt, looking terrified, and Phoebe led the way while Joey brought up the rear.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Joey yelled, coughing as they made their way down the stairs with the rest of the dazed tenants.  
  
"I don't know!" Chandler replied. "I just woke up and it was going off. I could smell smoke so I went to the door and looked out; it looked like it started somewhere near the bathroom!"  
  
Rachel seemed to come alive at that. "No, no, it wasn't me! My hair straightener is at Joey's apartment!" she cried.  
  
Chandler shook his head. "It's okay, Rach."  
  
They stumbled into the lobby just as four firefighters rushed inside, and everyone stepped back, giving them a wide berth.  
  
Monica watched them disappear up the stairs, feeling a sense of unreality. Was this really happening, or was she dreaming? She pinched herself on the arm. Yep. It hurt.  
  
Chandler and Joey ushered them outside, where they shivered in the cool spring morning and stared at the fire truck with its lights flashing. People milled around aimlessly. Rachel wrapped her arms around herself. "What time is it?" she asked in a numb voice.  
  
None of them were wearing a watch, but a man that Monica vaguely recognized as living on the floor above theirs tapped her on the shoulder. "It's just past 2:30," he said.  
  
"Thank you," Rachel replied, closing her eyes briefly and blowing out her breath in a long sigh.  
  
Monica glanced through the darkened windows of Central Perk, thinking how odd it was that just six short hours ago they'd all been in there having a cup of coffee after work. Life as usual.  
  
And now this.  
  
"Are you cold?" Chandler asked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back against him without waiting for a reply. She was cold, and she leaned into his chest gratefully.  
  
"You saved our lives," she told him quietly.  
  
He gave a short laugh. "A minute later and you would've been waking up whether I was there or not," he said dismissively. "That fire alarm could wake the dead."  
  
"Mon? Monica!"  
  
Hearing the familiar voice, Monica jumped and turned around, peering over Chandler's shoulder. Her brother was pushing his way through the crowd, and when he saw her he looked visibly relieved.  
  
"Thank god," he muttered, seeing the rest of them standing there. He gave Monica and Phoebe quick hugs, since they were closest, and then stepped back, shoulders slumping with relief. "I heard the sirens, and I got up when they sounded really close. When I walked out into the living room, I could see the fire through your window. Jesus. I tried to call you but you must have already been out here."  
  
"Monica and I were playing with matches. I guess we learned our lesson," Chandler said wryly.  
  
Humor as a defense mechanism, Monica thought. He must be more frightened by their close call than he was letting on. She stepped back into his arms, comforting him under the pretense of being comforted.  
  
Perhaps by ingrained habit, Rachel moved closer to Ross and grasped his hand tightly. He took off the flannel he was wearing over his t-shirt and helped her put it on, then wordlessly grabbed her hand again. Phoebe and Joey stood close together, Joey putting an arm around her as she leaned into him wearily, the emergency vehicle lights flashing strobe-like around them.  
  
"Hell of a night," the guy with the watch commented, glancing over at their solemn expressions.  
  
Indeed.  
  
--  
  
Ok, so the truth is, I was supposed to go see Mothmen Prophecies tonight, but that got cancelled… and my definitive cure for unprecedented boredom is writing. :-) Unless Friends is actually on TV, of course. Hope you were mildly entertained! 


End file.
